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Iowa’s unusual stretch of warm weather in late winter and early spring has led to earlier than normal tick activity and start to the tick-borne disease season. The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) reminds Iowans to protect themselves against tick bites. Ticks can carry the organisms that cause Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and Ehrlichiosis. The best way to prevent tick bites is to avoid wooded and grassy areas, where ticks are usually found.

If you do spend time in these areas:

• Wear long-sleeved shirts and long, light-colored pants tucked into socks or boots.
• Stay on trails when walking or hiking, and avoid high grass.
• Use insect repellants that contain DEET. Read and follow the label directions for application. DEET is not recommended for use on children under 2 months of age. For more information on DEET, visit www.idph.state.ia.us/idph_universalhelp/main.aspx?system=IdphEpiManual&context=DEET_factsheet.
• Check yourself, your children and your pets for ticks. Ticks tend to prefer the back of the knee, armpit, scalp, groin, and back of the neck.

If you discover a tick on your body, remove it right away. Folk remedies, such as burning the tick with a match or covering it with petroleum jelly or nail polish, are not effective. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend the following instructions for removing a tick:

• Carefully grasp the tick by using tweezers to grip the tick by its mouthparts which are close to the skin. Do not squeeze the tick’s body.
• Pull steadily directly away from your skin. Because removing the tick’s body is your main goal, don’t worry if its mouthparts break off in the process.
• Clean the wound and disinfect the site of the bite.

The most common tick-borne disease is Lyme disease; 85 cases of Lyme disease were reported to IDPH in 2011. Not everyone who gets Lyme disease will have the same symptoms, but the best and earliest sign of infection is a rash that may appear within a few days to a month, usually at the site of the tick bite. The rash will first look like a small, red bump, then expand until it begins to look like a bull’s eye, with a red center and a red ring surrounding a clear area. It is important to contact your healthcare provider immediately if you develop this type of rash.

For more information on Lyme disease visit www.idph.state.ia.us/idph_universalhelp/main.aspx?

w/ Ric Hanson

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Officials with the Harlan Community School District are warning local businesses about a company which is conducting unauthorized sales of HCS Cyclone posters. High School Activities Director Mitch Osborn said businesses in the Harlan area are getting calls and e-mails from Millennium Products LLC, in an attempt to sell an ad on their 11×17 HCHS color football poster, with prices nearly 4 times the amount local businesses and service groups sell their sponsorships for.

Osborn says, the groups pop up from time to time, and he wants area advertisers to know that not one dime comes back to the school system or booster club, while a portion of the funds raised from the Lions Club, Harlan Newspaper and our sister station KNOD, are donated back to the community.

Millennium Products is not associated with the school system, nor is it associated with the posters and sponsorships promoted by the Harlan Lions Club, Harlan Newspaper or KNOD. Osborn said often the groups will print a handful of posters, mail them just to the advertisers and leave town with the cash.

(7-a.m. News)

A four-month long investigation in Harlan has resulted in one person being arrested on several drug-related charges. According to the Harlan Police Department, 18-year old Duy Quang Vo, of Harlan, was taken into custody Tuesday, on three counts of delivery of a controlled substance/marijuana. 

Vo will face enhanced penalties for those charges, since the acts allegedly occurred within 1000-feet of a school or recreational area. Vo was also charged with one count of distribution to a person under age 18, and one count of ongoing criminal conduct.

The teen was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was being held on $100,000 bond.

The Elk Horn-Kimballton Community School District’s Board of Education will hold a Special Board meeting this evening at the High School in Elk Horn. The board will hold a work session with the Iowa School Finance Information Services, to look at the future forecast for the EHK School District. No action will be taken during the meeting, which begins at 6:30-p.m.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 21-year old Tiffany Nicole Studey, of Red Oak, was arrested late Wednesday night, on a Red Oak Police Department warrant for Harassment in the 3rd degree. Studey was taken into custody at around 11:30-p.m. and booked into the Montgomery County Jail. She was subsequently released on $300 cash bond.

Two people were arrested this morning in connection with the theft of a cash machine from a bank in Earling. Authorities in western Iowa were put on alert about the theft early this morning. Officials broadcast the alert at around 4:30-a.m., about a grey SUV which reportedly tore an ATM away from a bank building or stanchion.

Additional details are expected later this morning.

Most of the Republicans in the Iowa House have voted to limit the authority cities and counties now have to set up special districts where tax growth is used to finance improvements like roads, sewers and, in some cases, swimming pools. Representative Chuck Soderberg, a Republican from Le Mars, says a few local governments have abused these “tax increment financing” districts. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a responsibility to the taxpayers of Iowa to address the issues; to clarify, but to strengthen…and bring more accountability to the hard-earned dollars that our taxpayers provide in this program,” Soderberg says. Representative Dan Muhlbauer, a Democrat from Manilla, says his rural area has used this financing tool to pay for improvements to roads, to lure a wind turbine farm to the area. “You’re trying to micromanage what it is we want to do out in our small communities,” Muhlbauer said. “…We need just to leave it like it is. It’s a great tool.”

Representative Dave Jacoby, a Democrat from Coralville, railed against provisions in the bill which he argues would give school districts “veto power” to nix some of the special projects cities devise.
“Why is this the state’s business?” Jacoby asked. “Does this make us smaller and smarter? No, it’s big government and it’s slapping local governments in the face.” Representative Tom Sands, a Republican from Wapello, says school districts “should have a voice” to raise objections when property tax dollars are diverted forever, as is the case in tax increment financing districts in some Iowa cities. “This takes…what we have, it tries to build on what is working right and going forward with that,” Sands says. Senator Mary Gaskill, a Democrat from Ottumwa, says the bill’s new requirements would hamper the ability of city officials to quickly put together deals that lure businesses to town.

“Remember, these are businesses who are wanting to come to our districts and we’re putting all of these steps in place that’s doing to slow the process down, tremendously,” Gaskill says. “It’s going to slow it down.” After nearly two hours of debate, Representative Soderberg responded to the critics, arguing the bill would not “kill” cities’ ability to create these special taxing districts. “Puts some parameters around it, but does not restrict it as a tool,” Soderberg said. The bill passed on a 54 to 43 vote. It now goes to the Senate. The Iowa League of Cities, the Professional Developers of Iowa and the Iowa Chamber Alliance are all opposed to the bill, but groups like the Iowa Farm Bureau and the Iowa Association of School Boards support it.

(O. Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)

The Vision Iowa Board has awarded grants to build new attractions in three Iowa cities. Vision Iowa spokesperson Jessica O’Riley says the largest award granted Wednesday is worth one-million dollars ($1 million) and will help with several expansion projects at Des Moines’ Blank Park Zoo. Those include a filtration system for the seal and sea lion pool, a new camel exhibit near the zoo’s entrance and more space for new animals in an Africa exhibit. All of the improvements at Blank Park Zoo carry a total price tag of over $9.3 million. The southwest Iowa town of Stanton will receive just under $514,000 in Vision Iowa funding toward the construction of a building that will serve as a public library, a community center, a wellness center and a storm shelter.

“This is a fabulous project,” O’Riley said. “The residents of Stanton have really supported this. For a town of about 700, I believe they have raised 800-thousand dollars. So, there’s obviously broad community support.” The third Vision Iowa award is for a wellness facility in Indianola. The board granted just over $483,000 toward the $15 million project.

The 55,000 square foot facility will include a gymnasium, a swimming pool and racquetball court. Wednesday’s meeting of the Vision Iowa Board took place in Mason City (at the Park Inn Hotel).

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)